ESC – Legal Requirements

Regulations for active road safety.
A reduction of 9600 fatalities and 238000 injuries is the result of the study, carried out by NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), and conducted due to the fact that a plan to implement ESC as standard equipment was introduced in 2007. According to FMVSS (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard) 126 legal regulations, ESC will be mandatory on all vehicles under 10.000 lbs (4.536 kg). This law is mandatory starting 2011 for all new vehicles sold in the USA and Canada and also sets performance requirements that a vehicle with ESC must fulfill, i.e. the sine with dwell maneuver.

The ESC mandate is also being implemented in the European Union: European parliament approved the 2009/661/EC regulation in 2009, according to which, starting in 2011 all personal and commercial vehicles will be equipped with ESC. Focused on pedestrian safety, Brake Assist (BAS) will also be mandated for all vehicles according to the ECE-R 13 H regulation. This mandate will be introduced starting 2009 and be mandatory by the end of 2015, based on vehicle type and registration category. The electronically controlled hydraulic brake assistant (HBA/EBA) supports the driver in the case of an emergency brake situation in order to achieve maximum deceleration. This function can be combined with the Bosch ESC hardware.

Due to the increasing complexity of the on board networks, the implementation of the ISO 26262 regulation should guarantee the functionality of safety critical electronic subsystems in vehicles. It is based on the IEC 61508 and the first version will be initially introduced in July 2009. Starting 2011, the ISO 26262 will take over.